Relationship and Distinction in the Language Used To Describe Sara Baartman and Michelle Obama
African Women
Introduction
The similarities and differences in language used on Sara Baartman, Michelle Obama, Caster Semenya, and Serena Williams make many people not understand where these entitled, prominent women come from and how they started until they were influential in their areas and experts. The four African women passed through color discrimination, sexual assaults, and injustices because they were Africans, but they did not give up until they could be listen to. According to studies conducted in the source of this discrimination, it is clear that the African women received such treats due to their smart body shapes and their smart appearances. Studying the language used on the four women shows the presence of ethnic favoritism. All of them are African Americans, but their like language used on them is fixed more on their skin color. This paper will reflect on the similarities and differences in the manner Sara Baartman, Mitchelle Obama, Caster Semenya, and Serena Williams have been described in public.
Sara Baartman’s Background
Sara Baartman was enslaved in Cape Town after commando raiders in Khoikhoi village killed her family, and she managed to escape. She worked in a farm owned by a Dutch farmer known as Peter Cezar, where she carried out various public works such as constructing roads and building houses. Peter’s brother Hendrik together with a British Surgeon, visits him in Cape Town. Since they heard rumors that the Khoikhoi women had captivated genitals, they are interested in trying it with Sara. They, therefore, ask Cezar for permission to travel with Sara to England, and thus Sara Baartman arrived in London in June 1810 for England had stopped slave trade they could not travel further (Henderson, 2014). Sara was taken to London and Paris by Hendrik Cezar and Alexander Dunlop’s as they wanted to benefit from her by selling her. Hendrik used Sara to perform entertainment, which he was later reported to the court of London for using a black for the same. They fled to Paris to hide where he sold her to an animal training and disappeared.
Relationship and Distinction in the Language Used To Describe Sara Baartman and Michelle Obama
The mistreatment of Sara Baartman showed a lot of disparagements and interest in like actions. Sara was exploited sexually by the whites since they had an idea that the Khoikhoi from South Africa had special genitals, especially the women, and thus, they decided to try it with Baartman. In the same way, Mitchelle Obama, the first lady to President Obama of the United States, faced the same inhuman treatments, and this has tarnished her image in public areas and spoilt the respect she had. The two African women have faced discrimination of all kinds’ reason being they are blank people. This is an issue known as racism that has always prevailed during the time of colonization to the whites enslaving black people. The whites, in most cases, have treated the blacks as animals, and they don’t term them as having the same genes as them, and due to this reason, they have forced them to do hard tasks during the colonial period and enslaved many of the Africans. For example, the description given to Baartman “Hottentot Venus” was mocking her race and that she had a black color (Qureshi, 2004). During her husband’s leadership fight as the president of America, Michelle had to be brave, for the Americans would have discriminated against her for her race.
The black body of Sara Baartman led her to sexual harassment by the whites, where they were attracted by her black beauty and thus went to an extend of caressing her private parts. These deeds are treated as unpleasant, and they showed the whites inhumanity actions towards the black people. Michelle, different from Baartman, did not get any sexual assault; the whites have said and given sexual comments about her body. During her husband’s campaigns, people used an analysis language in a pornographic film to describe Michelle. Lastly, Sara’s treatment was inhuman, for it lacked an aspect of evolution in it. The whites used her to understand the African race, for they seemed different from their race, and Michelle received the same treatment. Michelle, at some point, comes across remarks that described her as an ape.
Relationship and Distinction in the Language Used To Describe Sara Baartman and Serena Williams
Serena Williams can be recognized as a hero in the world of tennis for the accomplishment she attained in that field due to her hard work. Despite the attainments, her reputation has been tarnished due to race favoritism cases directed to her. Every African American sportsperson has to face the discriminative actions of the whites, and due to this reason, Serena Williams was not an exception (Qureshi, 2004). The whites described African women as unwomanly, meaning that they had some features of males and thus putting their sexual category to the inquiry. For in Sara Baartman was explained as more beast than men meaning that they saw her as a man and not a woman. Serena, on the other hand, has been identified as tranny due to the morale she had. She had a profound voice and projecting muscles, and thus, they believed truly she was not a real feminine. Again both women had been powerful that they were mocked in front of people during their lives in western countries.
Despite that Baartman was to show her nakedness to the whites to see and touch to entertain them, Serena had been exposed to ethnic disgrace by an admirer. The more she insisted that the admirer should be expelled from the field, the whites did not see anything wrong done by the fan until Williams bunged from the play. The humiliation was so strong that it exaggerated Serena in the Sony contest. Lastly, the sexual harassment of the two women was stirred by the interest of the whites to use them. Just like Cater and Michelle, Serena Williams was also put to sexual assault by the whites so as split the notion of the black women being sexually active.
Relationship and Distinction in the Language Used To Describe Sara Baartman and Caster Semenya
Caster has received a good image as the queen of track in the last decade. She has been exploited in the field of sports, just like the other African women, and has been revealed through her masterful life in games. Semenya has, however, faced injustices being a black woman, especially when it comes to sexual assault the same way as Baartman. The two women come from the same originality, that is South Africa. The whites forced the two to undergo gender confirmation to know that the women and not men who lowered down their womanhood for the procedures are discriminating.
A good example is when Semenya won the Olympic Medal in 2008; she was forced to take various gender proof investigations to know if she was indeed a female athlete. These procedures are discriminating and shameful to a person’s sexuality. Again, it is an infringement of a person’s health check privacy for the results of the checkups were to be mentioned in public. Similarly, Sara had to show her nudeness so that they could prove a gender, and that was a way of disrespecting her (Ray, 2009).
Both Sara Baartman and Caster Semenya had to be satisfied with color mistreatment. For example, it is convincing to agree that Baartman and Semenya had to receive the kind of treatment they received because they were not whites. They were betrayed by their black color, and that’s why they had to undergo such treatments because they were not white people. The deeds of the whites can be described as the European treatment of the black people, and they carried out the inhuman practices just because the women were black. They don’t see black people as human or possessing the genes the white people posses but associate them with wild animals. Finally, Baartman fascinated the interest of the Europeans who wanted to see and use her genitals; they got contented when they felt her body and especially her buttocks. Similarly, Semenya had challenges with the many anatomical checkups that were to confirm that she was a female and not a man. The action meant that the whites wanted to fulfill their desires on Semenya’s body.
Summary and Conclusion
The whites described African women as unwomanly, meaning that they had some features of males and thus putting their sexual category to the inquiry. For in Sara Baartman was explained as more beast than men meaning that they saw her as a man and not a woman. Serena, on the other hand, has been identified as tranny due to the morale she had. She had a profound voice and projecting muscles, and thus, they believed she was not a real feminine. During her husband’s campaigns, people used an analysis language in a pornographic film to describe Michelle. Caster Semenya was forced by the whites to undergo gender confirmation to know that she was a woman and not a man that lowered down her womanhood for the procedures are discriminating. When Semenya won the Olympic Medal in 2008, she was forced to take various gender proof investigations to know if she was indeed a female athlete.
In conclusion, the four African women passed through color discrimination, sexual assaults, and injustices because they were Africans, but they did not give up until they could be powerful. For being African American and having a black color, Sara Baartman, Michelle Obama, Caster Semenya, and Serena Williams were highly discriminated and treated in inhumane ways by the Europeans. The Europeans, due to the hard work and good results African women got, they doubted if they were women and, in most cases, carried out inhuman procedures on them to determine their gender.
Reference
Henderson, C. E. (2014). AKA: Sarah Baartman, the Hottentot Venus, and black women’s identity. Women’s Studies, 43(7), 946-959.
Qureshi, S. (2004). Displaying Sara Baartman, the ‘Hottentot Venus.’ History of Science, 42(2), 233-257.
Ray, C. (2009). Caster Semenya: 21st Century’Hottentot Venus?’.